Asheville council previews housing text amendments, weighs map carve-outs for cottages and flag lots

City of Asheville officials and councilors spent much of the March 6 agenda briefing reviewing competing proposals to change zoning rules for cottage clusters, flag lots and a ‘by-right’ corridor process for multifamily housing, and directed staff to provide additional mapping and market data before the March 11 council meeting.

Planning and urban design director Steph Munson Dahl told council that the resident-led text amendments for cottages and flag lots were submitted by Barry Bialik and that staff had also prepared text amendments to implement housing and transit-supportive corridor changes, parking minimum adjustments and small-district zoning tweaks. Munson Dahl said staff will provide maps and additional analysis to help council consider whether to exclude specific geographies from any changes.

The debate focused on two buckets: (1) the corridor by-right multifamily package, which would allow developers to use an incentive table to gain regulatory relief in exchange for public benefits, and (2) a reconsideration of a citizen-initiated proposal on flag lots and cottage clusters. City Attorney Brad Branham told council that excluding certain areas by reference to an illustrative map could be done without triggering new procedural advertising, saying, “If what council proposes to do ... is to simply exclude certain areas geographically ... I do not think that would be such a substantive change to require any additional procedural process.”

Why it matters: councilors said the proposals are intended to increase housing supply while limiting disruption to established "legacy" neighborhoods. Several members asked for clearer affordability terms and duration tied to the incentive table for the by-right process; staff emphasized the proposals are intended to spur housing production without replacing other, council-reviewed tools.

Key details and points of contention - Affordability triggers and tiers: Munson Dahl and staff said the threshold for some incentives begins at projects of about 50,000 square feet, at which level the staff table currently calls for roughly 5% of units to be affordable, with higher levels at larger tiers. Council members pressed whether the AMI (area median income) level and length of affordability (20 years vs. 30 years) should be deeper to produce more long-term affordability. - Cottage cluster minimums: staff and the resident sponsor differed on the minimum unit count that constitutes a "cottage cluster." Munson Dahl said the resident-led proposal set a minimum of two homes, while staff’s recommended minimum is three, because staff considers two units to be more akin to a duplex or townhome. - Maps and exclusions: staff committed to providing up to three illustrative exhibits for the March 11 meeting: (a) legacy neighborhood boundaries as defined by community groups; (b) parcels identified as most vulnerable to market-driven change from the missing middle study (the "red/orange parcels" heat map); and (c) a combined map showing overlap. Staff also said they would add an opportunity-zones layer to the viewer for council review. - Process timing: staff repeated that some changes are already fully processed as text amendments and could move forward if four council votes support them, while other options that require geographic mapping or additional notice could push timelines. Munson Dahl said the overlay work staff aimed to begin in March could reach council by the first meeting in May if accelerated. - Enforcement and unintended consequences: Council members raised concerns that by-right pathways could be overbroad, that deeper affordability (lower AMI and longer term restrictions) could reduce developer participation, and that short-term rental conversions remain a risk even where the city has restrictions. City Attorney Brad Branham and staff noted limits on local authority for some tax tools and referenced prior ordinances restricting whole-home short-term rentals implemented in 2018.

What staff will provide: council asked staff to bring for the March 11 meeting a one-page side-by-side comparing the resident-led flag-lot/cottage proposal and staff’s draft, the three map exhibits described above, a list of recent conditional zoning (CZ) projects and how they would fit the new incentive table, and contract documents for the license-plate and camera vendors (requested separately in the meeting).

Context and next steps: the council will consider these items at its March 11 business meeting; staff said they heard council’s direction to prepare the exhibits and additional analysis. No formal council votes were taken at the March 6 agenda briefing.